Argentina, Brazil, Peru advance to semifinals of South American Youth Girls' Championship

Popayan, Colombia, November 12, 2013 – Argentina, Brazil and Peru advance to the semi finals after the second day of action at the South American Youth Girls’ Championship. The three South American teams won four matches in the qualifying round of the tournament, guaranteeing them a place in the next stage of the championship.

Defending champions Brazil played Chile in the opening match of the second day. Although both sides were evenly matched, Brazil came through to take the match 2-0 (25-21, 25-21).

Peru faced Bolivia in the second match of the day with the Peruvian team dominating the action to take the match 2-0 (25-10, 25-10). The Peru side was led by Juan Diego Garcia and the team dominated both in attack (led by Leslie Nicole Leyva and Abreu) as well as in defense. "Our goal is to be better each day and to improve ourselves in every game,” said the coach.

Argentina, captained by Azul Benitez , faced a familiar opponent in Uruguay in the following match. With Candela Poncet out of the game with an injury from the day before, Uruguay could not counter the Argentinians resulting in a 2-0 (25-9, 25-9) win.

The morning session closed with hosts Colombia defeating the Paraguay team, helped by the sustained attack led by number 13, Adriana Duran to take the match 2-0 (25-16, 25-14).

In the afternoon Peru closed its second day of competition with a 2-0 victory against Uruguay (25-16, 25-14), allowing Juan Diego Garcia’s team to secure their place in the semifinal of the tournament with four wins. With Brazil’s win against Paraguay 2-0 (25-8, 25-14), the defending champions have also won their place in the semifinals.

In the match that followed, Argentina defeated Bolivia 2-0 (25-21, 28-26) with Guillermo Caceres’ team owning their triumph to their powerful spikes and solid defense.

Hosts Colombia faced Chile in the last game of the day with local fans once again willing the home team to victory. The Chileans played some good quality volleyball allowing them to take the first set 25-21 and then the second, inspite of the scores being tied four times during the match. With their first win of the championship, Chile still has a chance of reaching the semifinals.